Washington: The US is "encouraged" by recent peace initiatives between India and Pakistan and it is now upto the two neighbours to carry forward the relationship, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice said ahead of President George W Bush's visit to Evian in France, where Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee will also be present.

Asked by reporters on May 28 about Bush's recent meetings with officials from the two countries, Rice said: "We are, in fact, encouraged by recent trends in the relationship between India and Pakistan. I think that everybody in the G-8 is encouraged by those recent trends. I do believe that the core here, the key here, is that is that India and Pakistan themselves move the relationship forward.

"It is not something that can be moved forth by the will of the G-8. But, but I know that members of the G- 8 are welcoming what is happening with the Indians and the Pakistanis," she said.

While welcoming the peace gestures, Rice said more needed to be done to reduce tensions between India and Pakistan.

"In fact the United States has been very engaged – Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage was out there not too long ago and there will be a lot of other activities and visitors," she said.

"But this is a time for encouragement on that particular issue," Rice added.

She said Bush was "very involved" with Indo-Pak ties and repeatedly talked to Vajpayee and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf over telephone.

But Bush "does not confine the conversation to Indo-Pakistan relations but discusses a variety of subjects" including democratisation of Pakistan, Rice added.

"We have a broad relationship with Pakistan, just as we have a broad relationship with India. And every time that he talks to Prime Minister Vajpayee or President Musharraf, this is not the only issue on the agenda," she said.

"The issue is how to broaden and deepen our relationships with Pakistan, with which we have important counter terrorism issues, important issues concerning Afghanistan, important issues of democratisation in Pakistan. We talk about those things - economic development in Pakistan.

"With India, we talk about scientific cooperation and trade, and the fact that this is the world's biggest democracy and we share a lot in common concerning values," Rice said.

She added American leaders were "looking forward" to Musharraf's forthcoming US visit.

PTI